Mealtime with young kids can be a daily struggle especially when you’re busy. Sometimes pulling through a drive-thru window is extremely tempting so you can get food in front of your kids that they’ll actually eat.
The good news is that fast food restaurants now offer healthier drinks and side items in their kids’ meals. For those nights when you can’t gather the family around the dinner table, BuzzFeed offers a side-by-side comparison of the best and worst fast food kids’ meals. The article focuses on calories, if you’re interested in additional nutritional value you can click through to the actual restaurant’s website.
Overall, the lower-calorie option is chicken nuggets over a cheeseburger with side dishes like apple slices, applesauce and yogurt instead of French fries. Drinks like milk and juice are always a better option than soda. Here are a few of our other takeaways for the next time you’re in the drive-thru lane:
McDonald’s: It’s good to know that fries are the default side dish in a Happy Meal, so you need to ask for the healthier apple slices and yogurt.
Burger King: If your child is insisting on having fries, try Burger King’s new “Satisfries”, which taste like regular fries but have 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories.
Wendy’s: While Wendy’s offers a grilled chicken wrap, it has more calories and as much fat as the hamburger.
Arby’s: Bottled water is also an option for kids’ meals.
Subway: The only fast food chain to join The Partnership for a Healthier America, which is a commitment to help in the fight against childhood obesity.
